


PoliSci Is Not My Major

by MCUsic_to_my_ears



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Incredible Hulk (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bruce Banner & Tony Stark Friendship, Bruce Banner Is a Good Bro, Fluff, M/M, Scary Movies, Science Bros Secret Santa 2018, Sickfic, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Tony Stark Is a Good Bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 10:31:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17160359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MCUsic_to_my_ears/pseuds/MCUsic_to_my_ears
Summary: Bruce and Tony are shuffled into the same Break Out Session for their gen ed Political Science class. Bonding ensues.





	PoliSci Is Not My Major

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SunsetScomiche](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunsetScomiche/gifts).



> Sorry for being late, but hopefully you like it! Happy Holidays my friend, this was a blast to write!

**BREAK OUT SESSION 1**

**Room 308**

Bruce didn't like to be late. His alarms had alarms, and his watch went off every five minutes to remind him that time was passing. So when he got lost on his way to the LAS library, second week of his junior year and still as confused about the campus' layout as he was on his first college visit three years before, he was a bit annoyed with himself.

The last study space on the third floor of the library was already full except for a seat on the end of the semi-circle next to a lanky student that Bruce saw in the physics labs from time to time, testing out what looked to be unapproved projects.

His dark hair was unstyled, and he looked like he hasn't slept in a week. He slumped back in his chair, an unopened backpack at his feet.

He raised an eyebrow when Bruce slipped into the seat next to him, but didn't say anything.

Their break out session leader rubbed his patchy beard before nodding at some scrawny freshman to continue speaking.

"And I'm a Political Science major," she concluded. The redhead was the third person in the first row of the semi-circle, so Bruce allowed himself to relax a little. He wasn't that late.

As the circle continued, Bruce picked up the format. Name, from such and such state, was excited to begin their freshman year in political science.

"My name is Tony Stark. I'm a junior from New York and a Mechanical Engineering major."

That was familiar.

"Um, Bruce Banner. Also a junior." He glanced around at the expectant faces staring back at him. "Oh. Physics." He ducked his head, fingers gripping tighter onto his notebook.

"Nice to meet everyone," drawled their TA. "I'm Brock. I'm a sophomore poli-sci major and your break out session leader. For many of you-" He sent an uncomfortable glance toward Bruce and Tony. "-this is the first class in your major, and as someone who was in your shoes just last year-" A sophomore girl in the back row who had mentioned that she had previously failed the class chuckled to herself. "-I want to reassure you that this class may seem daunting at first, but it really will end up one of your favorites from your freshman year. And that this session ends up being as fun as mine was last year.

"I know that Mr. Pierce tries to remain non-partisan-" Bruce snorted, as did Tony. They looked at each other in surprise. Bruce smiled tentatively while Tony rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "-but I'll clear the air now that I tend to be a bit right leaning, although I will try to keep my views in check."

A couple of liberal hearts broke down in the front row, but Bruce was used to it after his five-month jaunt with Betty's father breathing down his neck. It didn't help that Mr. Ross was the Dean of Undergraduate Research.

Bruce sighed and settled in for a long class of grinding his teeth against the partisan point of view he was about to be lectured on.

Ten minutes in, the guy of his right-Tony- nudged him.

He had a little sheet labeled ‘Number of Asshole Statements’ with four tally marks underneath it. Bruce smiled at the paper as their group lead commented, “Personally, I've just found that girls have a harder time in this class, since it's a lot more critical thinking than they're used to.” He laughed. The front row squirmed. Bruce crossed the four lines with a fifth.

They left the class with 27 tallies on their sheet and grins on their faces.

 

**BREAK OUT SESSION 2**

**Room 308**

Bruce wasn't completely sure how he had gotten to the library before their group leader, but he was fairly certain it had something to do with Tony. Not that he was suddenly invested in some kid he’d never spoken to before, but at the same time: maybe.

Luckily, Bruce’s flipped five minutes of binge-watching _Friends_ was not in vain. Tony was sitting in the same seat he was in last time, pulling out a stick of gum. When he saw Bruce, he offered a piece.

“Oh, no thanks,” Bruce mumbled, taking a seat next to him.

Tony shrugged, stuffing the wrapper of his piece into the front pocket of his backpack, along with an earbud that was hanging out. “So, physics, huh?”

“What?”

“Your major? Physics?” Tony gave him an amused smile.

Bruce ducked his head. “Yeah. Specifically concentrating on nuclear energy. And I’m getting a minor in biology.”

Tony huffed out a laugh. “That’s quite a full plate you’ve got there.”

“I get a feeling that yours is fuller. I’ve seen you in the labs a couple times. Do you ever sleep?”

“If you’re seeing me in the labs, then you’re also awake at three in the morning, so checkmate.”

Bruce rolled his eyes, laughing. “I surrender.”

A backpack dropped down in the front of the room. Both juniors startled.

“Oh thank God, I was worried we’d be the only ones to show up!” Tony exclaimed once he caught sight of Brock. “Bow down to our almighty group lead!”

Bruce elbowed him before he could question whether they were close enough to do that.

Tony rolled his eyes and pulled out a notebook.

He wrote ‘Asshole Tally’ at the top.

Bruce had a feeling they were in for a long review session.

 

**BREAK OUT SESSION 3**

**Room 308**

Being in their universities honors college was a huge honor to Bruce. But it was also a huge commitment that required a 3.75 GPA and Bruce’s Electrodynamics III class was threatening to ruin that already. So instead of learning about the wonders of political science in order to get his gen-ed out of the way, Bruce hunkered down in the back row with a three hundred dollar textbook and a highlighter.

He would have preferred to be working through the chapter in the comfort of his own apartment, but attendance of these sessions was cruelly a part of their grade.

Tony, who had either already taken the class—unlikely—or was just naturally gifted in vortex flux lines—even more unlikely—made notes in the margins of the textbook.

First, it was a sticky note that said, ‘Did you buy this?’ to which Bruce nodded.

After that it was straight into the book, the ‘Asshole Tally’ and all.

Bruce rolled his eyes but let it continue.

Brock ignored them.

 

**BREAK OUT SESSION 5**

**Room 308**

A week later, the tables had turned and Tony, with bags under his eyes, slumped down in the seat next to him, opened up his laptop and began coding at 80 words per minute.

Bruce tore a piece of graph paper out of his binder and kept the tally.

He passed it to Tony after the class ended.

They didn’t say anything.

 

**BREAK OUT SESSION 7**

**Room 308**

“Oh thank god. Hey, Bruce! Wait up!”

Bruce turned to see Tony racing up the steps after him.

“I am so glad you're late too!” Tony exclaimed between pants. “I thought to myself, ‘Tony, if you have to walk in late to another meeting by yourself, you're not going in’ and look at that: I'm going in!”

Bruce rolled his eyes. “I'm sure that plan will go great with your GPA.”

“My GPA is made of steel,” Tony proclaimed, grabbing the door handle into the library, but not opening it. “Nothing can break it.”

“I'm sure,” Bruce smiled, taking the other door handle and pulling. Tony put his hand on Bruce's.

“Or,” Tony smirked. Bruce felt his heart quicken at the proximity. “We could both not go in together.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning we get four skips throughout the semester and neither or us has used one yet. And I think we could both use a break from the racism waiting in there.”

Bruce smiled. “What are you proposing we do instead?”

Tony shrugged. “I have a paper to write. Want to go to Starbucks?”

“Are you always this forward?” Bruce joked.

The other student rolled his eyes. “Is it a date?”

“Lead the way.”

 

**BREAK OUT SESSION 15**

**Room 308**

“Okay, I didn't think that he was ever going to exceed forty, and yet here we are.”

Bruce nodded. “I think he's trying to see how close he can get to making the front row liberals cry.”

“Yeah, us back row liberals are tough as steel though,” Tony grinned.

Bruce slung his backpack over his shoulder, rolling his eyes. “Of course.”

They started walking out, tossing the tally into a recycling bin.

“So I've been thinking.”

“Well that's dangerous,” Bruce teased.

“Uncalled for,” Tony pouted. “But, I will go on despite your heckling because my ‘L’ grade steel bones supercede your measly ‘J’ grade.”

“Hey, we agreed. No more building material references.”

“Fine. Anyway, I was thinking: we're both in almost similar science classes.”

“Sure.”

“And we're both intelligent people.”

“Agreed.”

“So I thought it would be a logical conclusion that we should, you know, do homework together. If you wanted.”

Bruce nodded. “I mean definitely checks out. Would you perhaps like to set a time and date?”

Tony grinned. “I thought you'd never ask.”

 

**STUDY SESSION 1**

**APPT. 114**

“I wasn't sure what you'd like for food so I made nachos.”

“Nachos?”

“Uh huh.”

Bruce looked around the apartment. Apparently, Tony's roommate James (“But call him Rhodey, it drives him nuts!”) was at an ROTC meeting. It became abundantly clear that Rhodey was the only reason anything was clean when Tony showed Bruce the area where he had been studying before Bruce arrived, it looked as if he'd been stranded there for days. There were empty chip wrappers and crumbled sticky notes everywhere and no less than three yellow highlighters without lids on the floor.

“Make yourself at home.”

Bruce shook his head, smiling, before he dropped his backpack down next to Tony's and began rifling through his notebooks.

After Bruce settled into his note taking, Tony glanced up from his cocoon of graphing calculators and pencils missing erasers. “The number eleven keeps popping up in my notes and all I can think about is _Stranger Things_ ,” he remarked.

“Think about what?” Bruce answered absentmindedly.

Tony paused. “ _Stranger Things?_ ”

“What’s that?”

“You don’t,” Tony shook his head. Bruce looked over. “I’m sorry, have you not watched Netflix’s only good original series?”

“I don’t have Netflix,” Bruce supplied.

Tony pushed his textbook forward as he stood up. “No, I think that’s illegal. Like, I think the campus police pull people over and if they don’t know who Millie Bobbi Brown is they’re put in the drunk tank with a marathon.”

Bruce rolled his eyes. “I doubt that I’m missing out on that much.”

“Wrong. Come on,” Tony offered his hand, “We’re watching this best goddamn show this side of the campus.”

“Sure.”

 

**STUDY SESSION 2**

**APPT. 114**

“I know that I shouldn’t be stressed about this, since I know more about this class than about everyone else, but…”

“But it’s still forty percent of your grade,” Tony finished.

“Exactly,” Bruce sighed. They sat on opposite ends of Tony’s bed, highlighters at the ready.

About half an hour later, Bruce asked, “Can I plug my phone in?”

“Sure.” Tony motioned to a power strip on the floor to his left.

Bruce strung his cord back to his spot, which was suddenly much closer to Tony than he was before.

Halfway into hid third Quizlet set, Bruce's head rested on Tony's shoulder and he thought, _This isn't as platonic as I remember._

 

**BREAK OUT SESSION 23**

**Starbucks**

They were at the steps of the library, back from fall break, when their phones rang in unison.

Tony pulled his out first. “Break out session is cancelled,” he announced. “Brock is sick.”

Bruce looked up from the same email. “Well thanks for the notice,” Bruce muttered.

“Hey, silver lining: free skip.”

“And?”

“And we're going to Starbucks because I haven't had coffee yet today.”

“Fine, Tones, but you're getting their chai tea.”

“Done and done,” the shorter student beamed.

Bruce meant to study when they got there, but somehow Tony didn't let him get a paragraph into his notes.

 

**STUDY SESSION 5**

**APPT. 267**

“You haven't taken English?”

“I tested out,” Tony shrugged.

Bruce blinked at him. “You're telling me that you've been missing my quality Ayn Rand references for months and you didn't think that I might want to fill you in?”

Tony rolled his eyes, “You don't get my _Ghostbusters_ references.” He motioned to the laptop in front of them.

“We're watching _Ghostbusters_ right now,” Bruce argued, “But you're never going to sit down and bask in the glory of _Anthem_!”

“And for good reason: there are no ghosts.”

“No no no, the ghosts are the future that they left behind to re-enter the dark ages, but you would never know because you've never read _Anthem._ ”

“Bruce you're the only person who references Ayn Rand on a regular basis, apparently. _Ghostbusters_ is a cult classic.”

“ _Anthem_ expands your mind!”

“ _Ghostbusters_ expands your comedic repertoire!”

They stared at each other for a long minute.

“Do you want to finish the movie?”

Tony nodded.

They fell asleep before the Stay Puft man was created.

 

**BREAK OUT SESSION 29**

**APPT. 114**

Bruce flopped his head back before realizing that that was a mistake. His temples throbbed and he closed his eyes against the lights. “I hate you so much, Tony,” he groaned.

“You hate me?” the accused cried. “You got me sick!”

“Tony, you got me sick and you know it.”

“You were a carrier!”

“Your symptoms manifested first!”

“Boys,” Tony's roommate called, “You're spending more energy than you have.”

“Platypus!”

“Hi James.”

“Rhodey, did you get my text?”

The senior sighed. “Yes.” He held up a paper bag. “Two pints of Walt's chicken noodle soup, hold the carrots.”

“Their carrots are gross,” Tony whispered.

James passed out the two bowls before handing the boys plastic spoons. They ate in silence on opposite sides of the couch while James watches them from a nearby bean bag chair.

“What the hell are you two watching?” James asked.

Tony looked up from his half empty soup container, bleary eyed. “Bruce has this friend from home-”

“-She's like a sister to me-”

“-And she asked us to figure out who the next ‘A’ is in _Pretty Little Liars_.”

“Of course.”

“And in order to do that, we have to know who the past ‘A's have been, so we have to watch the whole show.”

“I see.”

“Rhodey, you are being so unfair. Bruce's childhood friend-”

“-Natasha-”

“-Is in need.”

“Alright Tones. Just don't start crying when your favorite character dies. You already have enough snot.”

“Gross,” Tony objected.

At least they already had tissues before the season two finale.  

 

**BREAK OUT SESSION 31**

**Room 308**

“Do you have a ruler?”

Bruce blinked. “Tony, I carry around a staple remover and a full sized, three hole punch.”

“And do you have a ruler?”

“Of course I have a ruler.”

“You're such a nerd, Bruce.”

“You're the one who needed a ruler.”

Bruce dug around through his backpack, trying to find the plastic ruler which had fallen the the bottom of his bag. He pulled out a crumpled piece of paper and passed it to Tony as he kept looking.

“Huh.”

“What?” Bruce asked, finally pulling out the ruler. He looked over at Tony.

“This is our first one.”

“Our first- Oh.”

Tony passed Bruce their first ‘Asshole Tally’. He laughed a little at the small number. Twenty-seven. Bruce shook his head, last session it had been forty-six and Bruce doubted Brock had plans to tone it down in their last week of the break out meetings.

Both boys laughed, remembering the uselessness and offensiveness of the class.

 

**STUDY SESSION 12**

**APPT. 114**

Tony seemed different. He kept giving Bruce long looks, but he wouldn't say what was wrong when Bruce asked.

He'd smile and say that he was fine, which was such a lie.

“You know you can tell me anything,” Bruce reminded his friend.

Tony stared into Bruce's eyes for a long time. “I know.”

 

**BREAK OUT SESSION 32**

**Room 308**

They walked up the steps to the CLAS library together for the final time. Moments before they entered the doors, Tony stopped.

“What's up?” Bruce asked.

“I'm going to be way too chicken to ask you this later,” Tony whispered.

“What?” Bruce laughed.

“Will you go out with me?”

Bruce took a step back in surprise, before a grin spread over his face. “Of course.”

Tony's arms framed Bruce's face. They connected in a kiss.

They missed the final break out session.

  
  
  
  



End file.
